THE MORGAN RAID
Departure of the staff for the field--An amusingly quick
return--Changes in my own duties--Expeditions to occupy the
enemy--Sanders' raid into East Tennessee--His route--His success and
return--The Confederate Morgan's raid--His instructions--His
reputation as a soldier--Compared with Forrest--Morgan's start
delayed--His appearance at Green River, Ky.--Foiled by Colonel
Moore--Captures Lebanon--Reaches the Ohio at Brandenburg--General
Hobson in pursuit--Morgan crosses into Indiana--Was this his
original purpose?--His route out of Indiana into Ohio--He approaches
Cincinnati--Hot chase by Hobson--Gunboats co-operating on the
river--Efforts to block his way--He avoids garrisoned posts and
cities--Our troops moved in transports by water--Condition of
Morgan's jaded column--Approaching the Ohio at
Buffington's--Gunboats near the ford--Hobson attacks--Part captured,
the rest fly northward--Another capture--A long chase--Surrender of
Morgan with the remnant--Summary of results--A burlesque
capitulation.
The departure of General Burnside and his staff for active service
in the field was quite an event in Cincinnati society. The young men
were a set of fine fellows, well educated and great social
favorites. There was a public concert the evening before they left
for Lexington, and they were to go by a special train after the
entertainment should be over. They came to the concert hall,
therefore, not only booted and spurred, but there was perhaps a bit
of youthful but very natural ostentation of being ready for the
field. Their hair was cropped as close as barber's shears could cut
it, they wore the regulation uniform of the cavalry, with trim
round-about jackets, and were the "cynosure of all eyes." Their
parting words were said to their lady friends in the intervals of
the music, and the pretty dramatic effect of it all suggested to an
onlooker the famous parting scene in "Belgium's capital" which
"Childe Harold" has made so familiar.
It was quite an anti-climax, however, when the gay young officers
came back, before a week was over, crestfallen, the detaching of the
Ninth Corps having suspended operations in Kentucky. They were a
little quizzed about their very brief campaign, but so
good-humoredly that they bore it pretty well, and were able to seem
amused at it, as well as the fair quizzers.
In preparation for a lengthened absence, Burnside had turned over to
me some extra duties. He ordered the District of Michigan to be
added to my command, and gave general directions that the current
business of the department headquarters should pass through my
hands. As General Parke, his chief of staff, had gone to Vicksburg
in command of the Ninth Corps, Burnside made informal use of me to
supply in some measure his place. Our relations therefore became
closer than ever. He hoped his troops would soon come back to him,
as was promised, and in resuming business at the Cincinnati
headquarters, he tried to keep it all in such shape that he could
drop it at a moment's notice.
To keep the enemy occupied he organized two expeditions, one under
Brigadier-General Julius White into West Virginia, and the other
under Colonel W. P. Sanders into East Tennessee. The latter was one
of the boldest and longest raids made during the war, and besides
keeping the enemy on the alert, destroying considerable military
stores and a number of important railway bridges, it was a
preliminary reconnoissance of East Tennessee and the approaches to
it through the mountains, which was of great value a little later.
The force consisted of 1500 mounted men, being detachments from
different regiments of cavalry and mounted infantry, among which
were some of the loyal men of East Tennessee under Colonel R. K.
Byrd. Sanders was a young officer of the regular army who was now
colonel of the Fifth Kentucky Cavalry. He rapidly made a first-class
reputation as a bold leader of mounted troops, but was unfortunately
killed in the defence of Knoxville in November of this same year.
His expedition started from Mount Vernon, Kentucky, on the 14th of
June, marched rapidly southward sixty miles to Williamsburg, where
the Cumberland River was fordable. Thence he moved southwest about
the same distance by the Marsh Creek route to the vicinity of
Huntsville in Tennessee. Continuing this route southward some fifty
miles more, he struck the Big Emory River, and following this
through Emory Gap, he reached the vicinity of Kingston on the Clinch
River in East Tennessee, having marched in all rather more than two
hundred miles. Avoiding Kingston, which was occupied by a superior
force of Confederates, he marched rapidly on Knoxville, destroying
all the more important railway bridges. Demonstrating boldly in
front of Knoxville, and finding that it was strongly held and its
streets barricaded for defence, he passed around the town and
advanced upon Strawberry Plains, where a great bridge and trestle
crosses the Holston River, 2100 feet in length, a place to become
very familiar to us in later campaigning. Crossing the Holston at
Flat Creek, where other bridges were burned, he moved up the left
(east) bank of the river to attack the guard at the big bridge, the
Confederate forces being on that side. He drove them off, capturing
150 of the party and five cannon. He not only destroyed the bridge,
but captured and burnt large quantities of military stores and camp
equipage. On he went along the railway to Mossy Creek, where another
bridge 300 feet long was burned. He now turned homeward toward the
north-west, having greatly injured a hundred miles of the East
Tennessee Railroad. Turning like a fox under the guidance of his
East Tennessee scouts, he crossed the Clinch Mountains and the
valley of the Clinch, and made his way back by way of Smith's Gap
through the Cumberland Mountains to his starting-place in Kentucky.
He had captured over 450 prisoners, whom he paroled, had taken ten
cannon and 1000 stands of small arms which he destroyed, besides the
large amounts of military stores which have been mentioned. He
marched about five hundred miles in the whole circuit, and though
frequently skirmishing briskly with considerable bodies of the
enemy, his losses were only 2 killed, 4 wounded, and 13 missing. Of
course a good many horses were used up, but as a preliminary to the
campaign which was to follow and in which Sanders was to have a
prominent place, it was a raid which was much more profitable than
most of them. He was gone ten days. [Footnote: Sanders' Report,
Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. pp. 385, 386.]
The expedition under Brigadier-General Julius White was sent to beat
up the Confederate posts in the Big Sandy valley and to aid
incidentally the raid under Sanders into East Tennessee. Burnside
sent another southward in the direction of Monticello, Kentucky. The
object of these was to keep the enemy amused near home and prevent
the raids his cavalry had been making on the railway line by which
Rosecrans kept up his communication with Louisville. They seem
rather to have excited the emulation of the Confederate cavalryman
Brigadier-General John H. Morgan, who, a few days before Rosecrans's
advance on Tullahoma, obtained permission to make a raid, starting
from the neighborhood of McMinnville, Tenn., crossing the Cumberland
near Burkesville, and thence moving on Louisville, which he thought
he might capture with its depots of military stores, as it was
supposed to be almost stripped of troops. His division consisted of
about 3000 horsemen, and he took the whole of it with him, though
Wheeler, his chief, seems to have limited him to 2000. His
instructions were to make a rapid movement on the line of the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad in Kentucky and to get back to his
place in Bragg's army as quickly as possible. [Footnote: Official
Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. p.817.]
Morgan's reputation as a soldier was a peculiar one. He had made a
number of raids which showed a good deal of boldness in the general
plan and a good deal of activity in the execution, but it cannot be
said that he showed any liking for hard fighting. Like boys skating
near thin ice, he seemed to be trying to see how close he could come
to danger without getting in. A really bold front showed by a small
body of brave men was usually enough to turn him aside. It is
instructive to compare his career with Forrest's. They began with
similar grade, but with all the social and personal prestige in
Morgan's favor. Forrest had been a local slave-trader, a calling
which implied social ostracism in the South, and which put a great
obstacle in the way of advancement. Both were fond of adventurous
raids, but Forrest was a really daring soldier and fought his way to
recognition in the face of stubborn prejudice. Morgan achieved
notoriety by the showy temerity of his distant movements, but nobody
was afraid of him in the field at close quarters.
The official order to Morgan to start on his expedition was dated on
the 18th of June, but he did not get off till the close of the
month. It would seem that he remained in observation on the flank of
Rosecrans's army as the left wing moved upon Manchester, and began
his northward march after Bragg had retreated to Decherd on the way
to Chattanooga. At any rate, he was first heard of on the north side
of the Cumberland on the 2d of July, near Burkesville and marching
on Columbia. Burnside immediately ordered all his cavalry and
mounted infantry to concentrate to meet him, but his route had been
chosen with full knowledge of the positions of our detachments and
he was able to get the start of them. Brigadier-General H. M. Judah,
who commanded the division of the Twenty-third Corps which covered
that part of our front, seems to have wholly misconceived the
situation, and refused to listen to the better information which his
subordinates gave him. [Footnote: Sketches of War History, vol. iv.
(Papers of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion). A paper by
Capt. H. C. Weaver, Sixteenth Kentucky Infantry, who was on the
staff of Brigadier-General E. H. Hobson during the pursuit of
Morgan.] After a slight skirmish at Columbia, Morgan made for the
Green River bridge at Tebb's Bend, an important crossing of the
Louisville Railroad. The bend was occupied by Colonel O. H. Moore of
the Twenty-fifth Michigan Infantry, who, under previous instructions
from Brigadier-General E. H. Hobson, intrenched a line across the
neck of the bend, some distance in front of the stockade at the
bridge. Morgan advanced upon the 4th of July, and after a shot or
two from his artillery, sent in a flag demanding the surrender of
Moore's little force, which amounted to only 200 men. Moore did not
propose to celebrate the national anniversary in that way, and
answered accordingly. The enemy kept up a lively skirmishing fight
for some hours, when he withdrew. [Footnote: Official Records, vol.
xxiii. pt. i. p. 645.] Moore had beaten him off with a loss of 6
killed and 23 wounded of the brave Michigan men. He reported
Morgan's loss at 50 killed and 200 wounded. The Confederate
authorities admit that they had 36 killed, but put their wounded at
only 46, an incredibly small proportion to the killed.
The raiders continued their route to Lebanon, where was the
Twentieth Kentucky Infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles S.
Hanson, numbering less than 400 men, without artillery. A brigade
ordered to reinforce the post delayed its advance, and Hanson was
left to his own resources. After several hours of a lively
skirmishing fight without much loss, he surrendered to save the
village from destruction by fire, which Morgan threatened. The loss
in the post was 4 killed and 15 wounded. [Footnote: Official
Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. p. 649.] Hanson reported 29 rebel dead
left on the field and 30 wounded, also abandoned. No doubt others of
the wounded were taken care of and concealed by their sympathizers
in the vicinity. Some military stores had been burned with the
railway station-house before Hanson surrendered. He and his men were
paroled in the irregular way adopted by Morgan on the raid.
Bardstown was the next point reached by the enemy, but Morgan's
appetite for Louisville seems now to have diminished, and he turned
to the westward, reaching the Ohio River on the 8th, at Brandenburg,
some thirty miles below the city. The detachments of mounted troops
which were in pursuit had been united under the command of General
Hobson, the senior officer present, and consisted of two brigades,
commanded by Brigadier-General J. M. Shackelford and Colonel F.
Wolford. They approached Brandenburg on the evening of the 8th and
captured the steamboat "McCombs" with a remnant of Morgan's men and
stores the next morning when they entered the town. They saw on the
opposite bank the smoking wreck of the steamboat "Alice Dean" which
Morgan had set on fire after landing his men on the Indiana shore.
The steamboat "McCombs" was sent to Louisville for other transports.
A delay of twenty-four hours thus occurred, and when Hobson's
command was assembled in Indiana, Morgan had the start by nearly two
days. [Footnote: Hobson's Report, Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt.
i. p. 659.]
It is claimed by Morgan's intimate friend and chronicler that he
intended to cross the Ohio from the day he left camp in Tennessee,
although it would be contrary to his orders; [Footnote: _Id_., p.
818. History of Morgan's Cavalry, by B. W. Duke, p. 410.] and that
he had made investigations in advance in regard to fords on the
upper Ohio and particularly at Buffington Island, where he
ultimately tried to cross into West Virginia. If true, this would
forfeit every claim on his part to the character of a valuable and
intelligent subordinate; for operations on a large scale would be
absolutely impossible if the commander of a division of cavalry may
go off as he pleases, in disobedience to the orders which assign him
a specific task. Except for this statement, it would be natural to
conclude that when he approached Louisville he began to doubt
whether the city were so defenceless as he had assumed, and knowing
that twenty-four hours' delay would bring Hobson's forces upon his
back, he then looked about for some line of action that would save
his prestige and be more brilliant than a race back again to
Tennessee. It is quite probable that the feasibility of crossing the
Ohio and making a rapid ride through the country on its northern
bank had been discussed by him, and conscious as he was that he had
thus far accomplished nothing, he might be glad of an excuse for
trying it. This interpretation of his acts would be more honorable
to him as an officer than the deliberate and premeditated
disobedience attributed to him. But whether the decision was made
earlier or later, the capture of the steamboats at Brandenburg was
at once made use of to ferry over his command, though it was not
accomplished without some exciting incidents. A party of the
Confederates under Captain Hines had crossed into Indiana a few days
before without orders from Morgan, being as independent of him,
apparently, as he was of General Bragg. Hines's party had roused the
militia of the State, and he had made a rapid retreat to the Ohio,
reaching it just as Morgan entered Brandenburg. It may be that the
lucky daredeviltry of Hines's little raid fired his commander's
heart to try a greater one; at any rate, Morgan forgave his trespass
against his authority as he prayed to be forgiven by Bragg, and
turned his attention to driving off the Indiana militia who had
followed Hines to the bank of the river and now opened fire with a
single cannon. Morgan's artillery silenced the gun and caused the
force to retreat out of range, when he put over two of his
regiments, dismounted, to cover the ferrying of the rest. At this
point one of the "tin-clad" gunboats of the river fleet made its
appearance and took part in the combat. The section of Parrot guns
in Morgan's battery proved an overmatch for it, however, and it
retired to seek reinforcements. The interval was used to hasten the
transport of the Confederate men and horses, and before further
opposition could be made, the division was in the saddle and
marching northward into Indiana.
At the first news of Morgan's advance into Kentucky, Burnside had
directed General Hartsuff, who commanded in that State, to
concentrate his forces so as to capture Morgan if he should attempt
to return through the central part of it. [Footnote: Official
Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. pp.13, 679, etc.] Judah's and Boyle's
divisions were put in motion toward Louisville, and the remainder of
the mounted troops not already with Hobson were also hurried
forward. These last constituted a provisional brigade under Colonel
Sanders. It may help to understand the organization of the National
troops to note the fact that all which operated against Morgan were
parts of the Twenty-third Corps, which was composed of four
divisions under Generals Sturgis, Boyle, Judah, and White. The
brigades were of both infantry and mounted troops, united for the
special purposes of the contemplated campaign into East Tennessee.
For the pursuit of Morgan the mounted troops were sent off first,
and as these united they formed a provisional division under Hobson,
the senior brigadier present. Quite a number of the regiments were
mounted infantry, who after a few months were dismounted and resumed
their regular place in the infantry line. For the time being,
however, Hobson had a mounted force that was made up of fractions of
brigades from all the divisions of the corps; and Shackelford,
Wolford, Kautz, and Sanders were the commanders of the provisional
brigades during the pursuit. Its strength did not quite reach 3000
men. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. p. 658.]
Morgan's first course was due north, and he marched with some
deliberation. On the 10th he reached Salem, about forty miles from
the river, on the railway between Louisville and Chicago. [Footnote:
_Id_., pp. 717, 719.] A small body of militia had assembled here,
and made a creditable stand, but were outflanked and forced to
retreat after inflicting on him a score of casualties. The evidences
Morgan here saw of the ability of the Northern States to overwhelm
him by the militia, satisfied him that further progress inland was
not desirable, and turning at right angles to the road he had
followed, he made for Madison on the Ohio. There was evidently some
understanding with a detachment he had left in Kentucky, for on the
11th General Manson, of Judah's division, who was on his way with a
brigade from Louisville to Madison by steamboats under naval convoy,
fell in with a party of Morgan's men seeking to cross the river at
Twelve-mile Island, a little below Madison. Twenty men and
forty-five horses were captured. [Footnote: _Id_., pt. ii. pp. 729,
745.] If any of this party had succeeded in crossing before (as was
reported) they would of course inform their chief of the
reinforcements going to Madison, and of the gunboats in the river.
Morgan made no attack on Madison, but took another turn northward in
his zigzag course, and marched on Vernon, a railway-crossing some
twenty miles from Madison, where the line to Indianapolis intersects
that from Cincinnati to Vincennes. Here a militia force had been
assembled under Brigadier-General Love, and the town was well
situated for defence. Morgan, declining to attack, now turned
eastward again, his course being such that he might be aiming for
the river at Lawrenceburg or at Cincinnati.
The deviousness of his route had been such as to indicate a want of
distinct purpose, and had enabled Hobson greatly to reduce the
distance between them. Hanson's brigade on the steamboats was now
about 2500 strong, and moved on the 12th from Madison to
Lawrenceburg, keeping pace as nearly as possible with Morgan's
eastward progress. Sanders's brigade reached the river twenty miles
above Louisville, and General Boyle sent transports to put him also
in motion on the river. At the request of Burnside, Governor Tod, of
Ohio, called out the militia of the southern counties, as Governor
Morton had done in Indiana. Burnside himself, at Cincinnati, kept in
constant telegraphic communication with all points, assembling the
militia where they were most likely to be useful and trying to put
his regular forces in front of the enemy. It would have been easy to
let the slippery Confederate horsemen back into Kentucky. The force
in the river, both naval and military, unquestionably prevented this
at Madison, and probably at Lawrenceburg. On the 13th Morgan was at
Harrison on the Ohio State line, and it now became my turn as
district commander to take part in the effort to catch him. I had no
direct control of the troops of the Twenty-third Corps, and the only
garrisons in Ohio were at the prison camps at Columbus and Sandusky.
These of course could not be removed, and our other detachments were
hardly worth naming. Burnside declared martial law in the counties
threatened with invasion, so that the citizens and militia might for
military purposes come directly under our control. The relations
between the general and myself were so intimate that no strict
demarcation of authority was necessary. He authorized me to give
commands in his name when haste demanded it, and we relieved each
other in night watching at the telegraph.
A small post had been maintained at Dayton, since the Vallandigham
disturbance, and Major Keith, its commandant, was ordered to take
his men by rail to Hamilton. He went at once and reported himself
holding that town with 600 men, including the local militia, but
only 400 were armed. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i.
pp.742, 743.] Lieutenant-Colonel Neff commanded at Camp Dennison,
thirteen miles from Cincinnati, and had 700 armed men there, with
1200 more of unarmed recruits. [Footnote: _Id_., p.749.] At both
these posts systematic scouting was organized so as to keep track of
the enemy, and their active show of force was such that Morgan did
not venture to attack either, but threaded his way around them. At
Cincinnati there was no garrison. A couple of hundred men formed the
post at Newport on the Kentucky side of the river, but the main
reliance was on the local militia. These were organized as soon as
the governor's call was issued on the evening of the 12th. Batteries
were put in position covering the approaches to the city from the
north and west, and the beautiful suburban hills of Clifton and
Avondale afforded excellent defensive positions.
The militia that were called out were of course infantry, and being
both without drill and unaccustomed to marching, could only be used
in position, to defend a town or block the way. In such work they
showed courage and soldierly spirit, so that Morgan avoided
collision with all considerable bodies of them. But they could not
be moved. All we could do was to try to assemble them at such points
in advance as the raiders were likely to reach, and we especially
limited their task to the defensive one, and to blockading roads and
streams. Particular stress was put on the orders to take up the
planking of bridges and to fell timber into the roads. Little was
done in this way at first, but after two or three days of constant
reiteration, the local forces did their work better, and delays to
the flying enemy were occasioned which contributed essentially to
the final capture.
No definite news of Morgan's crossing the Ohio line was received
till about sunset of the 13th when he was marching eastward from
Harrison. Satisfied that Lawrenceburg and lower points on the Ohio
were now safe, Burnside ordered the transports and gunboats at once
to Cincinnati. Manson and Sanders arrived during the night, and the
latter with his brigade of mounted men was, at dawn of the 14th,
placed on the north of the city in the village of Avondale. Manson
with the transports was held in readiness to move further up the
river.
Feeling the net drawing about him, Morgan gave his men but two or
three hours' rest near Harrison, and then took the road toward
Cincinnati. He reached Glendale, thirteen miles northwest of the
city, late in the night, and then turned to the east, apparently for
Camp Dennison, equally distant in a northeast direction. His men
were jaded to the last degree of endurance, and some were dropping
from the saddle for lack of sleep. Still he kept on. Colonel Neff,
in accordance with his orders, had blockaded the principal roads to
the west, and stood at bay in front of his camp. Morgan threw a few
shells at Neff's force, and a slight skirmish began, but again he
broke away, forced to make a detour of ten miles to the north. We
had been able to warn Neff of their approach by a message sent after
midnight, and he had met them boldly, protecting the camp and the
railroad bridge north of it. [Footnote: Official Records, vol.
xxiii. pt. i. pp. 748, 750.] The raiders reached Williamsburg in
Clermont County, twenty-eight miles from Cincinnati, in the
afternoon of the 14th, and there the tired men and beasts took the
first satisfactory rest they had had for three days. Morgan had very
naturally assumed that there would be a considerable regular force
at Cincinnati, and congratulated himself that by a forced night
march he had passed round the city and avoided being cut off. He
had, in truth, escaped by the skin of his teeth. Could Burnside have
felt sure that Lawrenceburg was safe a few hours earlier, Manson and
Sanders might have been in Cincinnati early enough on the 13th to
have barred the way from Harrison. He had in fact ordered Manson up
at two o'clock in the afternoon, but the latter was making a
reconnoissance north of the town, and was detained till late in the
night. As soon as it was learned on the 14th that Morgan had passed
east of the Little Miami River, Sanders was ordered to join Hobson
and aid in the pursuit. [Footnote: In the reports of Hobson and
Sanders there seems to be a mistake of a day in the dates, from the
12th to the 16th. This may be corrected by the copies of current
dispatches given in Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. pp.
730-750.] Hobson's horses were almost worn out, for following close
upon Morgan's track, as he was doing, he found only broken down
animals left behind by the rebels, whilst these gathered up the
fresh animals as they advanced. Still he kept doggedly on, seldom
more than ten or fifteen miles behind, but unable to close that gap
till his opponent should be delayed or brought to bay.
After entering Clermont County, the questions as to roads, etc,
indicated that Morgan was making for Maysville, hoping to cross the
river there. [Footnote: _Id_., p. 749.] Manson's brigade and the
gunboats were accordingly sent up the river to that vicinity. The
militia of the Scioto valley were ordered to destroy the bridges, in
the hope that that river would delay him, but they were tardy or
indifferent, and it was a day or two later before the means of
obstruction were efficiently used. Judah's forces reached Cincinnati
on the 14th, a brigade was there supplied with horses, and they were
sent by steamers to Portsmouth. Judah was ordered to spare no effort
to march northward far enough to head off the enemy's column. On the
16th General Scammon, commanding in West Virginia, was asked to
concentrate some of his troops at Gallipolis or Pomeroy on the upper
Ohio, and promptly did so. [Footnote: _Id_., p. 756.] The militia
were concentrated at several points along the railway to Marietta.
Hobson was in the rear, pushing along at the rate of forty miles a
day.
Morgan had soon learned that the river was so patrolled that no
chance to make a ferry could be trusted, and he made his final
effort to reach the ford at Buffington Island, between Marietta and
Pomeroy. He reached Pomeroy on the 18th, but Scammon was occupying
it, and the troops of the Kanawha division soon satisfied Morgan
that he was not dealing with militia. He avoided the roads held by
our troops, and as they were infantry, could move around them,
though a running skirmish was kept up for some miles. Hobson was
close in rear, and Judah's men were approaching Buffington. Morgan
reached the river near the ford about eight o'clock in the evening.
The night was pitchy dark, and his information was that a small
earthwork built to command the ford was occupied by a permanent
garrison. He concluded to wait for daylight. The work had in fact
been abandoned on the preceding day, but at daybreak in the morning
he was attacked. Hobson's men pushed in from west and north, and
Judah from the south. The gunboats came close up to the island,
within range of the ford, and commanded it. Hobson attacked
vigorously and captured the artillery. The wing of the Confederate
forces, about 700 in number, surrendered to General Shackelford, and
about 200 to the other brigades under Hobson. The rest of the enemy,
favored by a fog which filled the valley, evaded their pursuers and
fled northward. Hobson ordered all his brigades to obey the commands
of Shackelford, who was in the lead, and himself sought Judah, whose
approach had been unknown to him till firing was heard on the other
side of the enemy. Judah had also advanced at daybreak, but in
making a reconnoissance he himself with a small escort had stumbled
upon the enemy in the fog. Both parties were completely surprised,
and before Judah could bring up supports, three of his staff were
captured, Major Daniel McCook, paymaster, who had volunteered as an
aide, was mortally wounded, ten privates were wounded, and twenty or
thirty with a piece of artillery captured. Morgan hastily turned in
the opposite direction, when he ran into Hobson's columns; Judah's
prisoners and the gun were recaptured, and the enemy driven in
confusion, with the losses above stated. [Footnote: Official
Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. pp. 775-777.]
As Hobson was regularly a brigade commander in Judah's division, the
latter now asserted command of the whole force, against Hobson's
protest, who was provisionally in a separate command by Burnside's
order. Fortunately, Shackelford had already led Hobson's men in
rapid pursuit of the enemy, and as soon as Burnside was informed of
the dispute, he ordered Judah not to interfere with the troops which
had operated separately. By the time this order came Shackelford was
too far away for Hobson to rejoin him, and continued in independent
command till Morgan's final surrender. He overtook the flying
Confederates on the 20th, about sixty miles further north, and they
were forced to halt and defend themselves. Shackelford succeeded in
getting a regiment in the enemy's rear, and after a lively skirmish
between 1200 and 1300 surrendered. [Footnote: _Id_., pp. 778, 781.]
Morgan himself again evaded with about 600 followers. Shackelford
took 500 volunteers on his best horses and pressed the pursuit. The
chase lasted four days of almost continuous riding, when the enemy
was again overtaken in Jefferson County, some fifteen miles
northwest of Steubenville. General Burnside had collected at
Cincinnati the dismounted men of Hobson's command, had given them
fresh horses, and had sent them by rail to join Shackelford. They
were under command of Major W. B. Way of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry
and Major G. W. Rue of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry. They brought five
or six hundred fresh men to Shackelford's aid, and their assistance
was decisive. Morgan's course to the river at Smith's Ferry on the
border of Columbiana County was intercepted, and near Salineville he
was forced to surrender with a little less than 400 men who still
followed him. About 250 had surrendered in smaller bodies within a
day or two before, and stragglers had been picked up at many points
along the line of pursuit. Burnside reported officially that about
3000 prisoners were brought to Cincinnati. [Footnote: Official
Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i. p. 14.] General Duke states that some
300 of Morgan's command succeeded in crossing the Ohio about twenty
miles above Buffington, and escaped through West Virginia. He also
gives us some idea of the straggling caused by the terrible fatigues
of the march by telling us that the column was reduced by nearly 500
effectives when it passed around Cincinnati. [Footnote: Hist. of
Morgan's Cavalry, pp. 442, 443.] It is probable that these figures
are somewhat loosely stated, as the number of prisoners is very
nearly the whole which the Confederate authorities give as Morgan's
total strength. [Footnote: A note attached to Wheeler's return of
the cavalry of his corps for July 31st says that Morgan's division
was absent "on detached service," effectives 2743. Add to this the
officers, etc., and the total "present for duty" would be a little
over 3000. Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. ii. p. 941. For Bragg's
circular explaining the term "effectives" as applying only to
private soldiers actually in the line of battle, see _Id_., p. 619,
and _ante_, p. 482.] Either a considerable reinforcement must have
succeeded in getting to him across the river, or a very small body
must have escaped through West Virginia. Burnside directed the
officers to be sent to the military prison camp for officers on
Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay, and the private soldiers to go to
Camp Chase at Columbus and Camp Morton at Indianapolis. Soon
afterward, however, orders came from Washington that the officers
should be confined in the Ohio penitentiary, in retaliation for
unusual severities practised on our officers who were prisoners in
the South. Morgan's romantic escape from the prison occurred just
after I was relieved from the command of the district in the fall,
for the purpose of joining the active army in East Tennessee.
A glance at the raid as a whole, shows that whilst it naturally
attracted much attention and caused great excitement at the North,
it was of very little military importance. It greatly scattered for
a time and fatigued the men and horses of the Twenty-third Corps who
took part in the chase. It cost Indiana and Ohio something in the
plunder of country stores and farm-houses, and in the pay and
expenses of large bodies of militia that were temporarily called
into service. But this was all. North of the Ohio no military posts
were captured, no public depots of supply were destroyed, not even
an important railway bridge was burned. There was no fighting worthy
of the name; the list of casualties on the National side showing
only 19 killed, 47 wounded, and 8 missing in the whole campaign,
from the 2d of July to the final surrender. [Footnote: Official
Records, vol. xxlii. pt. i. p.637.] For this the whole Confederate
division of cavalry was sacrificed. Its leader was never again
trusted by his government, and his prestige was gone forever. His
men made simply a race for life from the day they turned away from
the militia at Vernon, Indiana. Morgan carefully avoided every
fortified post and even the smaller towns. The places he visited
after he crossed the Ohio line do not include the larger towns and
villages that seemed to lie directly in his path. He avoided the
railroads also, and these were used every day to convey the militia
and other troops parallel to his route, to hedge him in and finally
to stop him. His absence was mischievous to Bragg, who was
retreating upon Chattanooga and to whom the division would have been
a most welcome reinforcement. He did not delay Burnside, for the
latter was awaiting the return of the Ninth Corps from Vicksburg,
and this did not begin to arrive till long after the raid was over.
None of the National army's communications were interrupted, and not
a soldier under Rosecrans lost a ration by reason of the pretentious
expedition. It ended in a scene that was ridiculous in the extreme.
Morgan had pressed into his service as guides, on the last day of
his flight, two men who were not even officers of the local militia,
but who were acting as volunteer homeguards to protect their
neighborhood. When he finally despaired of escape, he begged his
captive guides to change their _rôle_ into commanders of an
imaginary army and to accept his surrender upon merciful and
favorable terms to the vanquished! He afterward claimed the right to
immediate liberation on parole, under the conditions of this
burlesque capitulation. Shackelford and his rough riders would
accept no surrender but an unconditional one as prisoners of war,
and were sustained in this by their superiors. The distance by the
river between the crossing at Brandenburg and the ferry above
Steubenville near which Morgan finally surrendered, was some six
hundred miles. This added to the march from Tennessee through
Kentucky would make the whole ride nearly a thousand miles long. Its
importance, however, except as a subject for an entertaining story,
was in an inverse ratio to its length. Its chief interest to the
student of military history is in its bearing on the question of the
rational use of cavalry in an army, and the wasteful folly of
expeditions which have no definite and tangible military object.
[Footnote: For Official Records and correspondence concerning the
raid, see Burnside's report (Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. i.
pp.13, 14) and the miscellaneous documents (_Id_., pp.632-818).]